Teen rooms are the hardest room in the house to do or redo. Why? Because taste is constantly evolving -- seriously, what you like at 13 is probably not going to be what you like at 16 or 18. And moms tend to get a little frustrated when you keep asking to change your room around. Trust us! So, when Chloe asked for yet another teen room redo (her last one was when she started middle school) I balked. But I gave in and we tried to compromise. Finding a middle ground was hard. What I wanted, she didn't. What she wanted, I didn't. We didn't need a decorator, we needed a referee with excellent taste and a lot of teen room redo experience. And we found her! Kathi Jaggers of Never Be Upstaged came to our rescue and took Chloe's room from drab to fab.

So, what is a room redo or refresh and why would you want one instead of redecorating? When you redecorate, you change your room from top to bottom. That's not what we needed. We already had the basics and just wanted to freshen-up her room, and have it feel completely new. To sum up: Chloe wanted a new look, I wanted to stay within a budget, and neither of us wanted to argue. Kathi helped us do all three. The steps we took were:

1. Divide items into piles: keep, store, give away, throw away.
2. Play with your furniture until it works for you - just because it's in one location, doesn't mean it has to stay in that location!
3. Utilize the basics you already have.
4. Accessorize with splashes of color.
5. DIY!

Voilà, Chloe has a new room! And, we stayed within our budget, had fun with crafts... and thanks to Kathi, we didn't argue.

Kathi's tips that helped us the most:
-keep your furniture neutral and use accessories to bring in pops of color and your personality so these can easily be changed when you decide you no longer like them
-use bins and baskets to hold like items to keep down visual clutter
-consider using bins with wheels to store items under your bed
-don't be afraid to use items differently than their original purpose (ex: spice rack for nail polish)
-have fun and experiment!

Thanks to Kathi Jaggers of Never Be Upstaged in Louisville, Kentucky for her guidance!